


Act I: Early Days

by JessKo2000 (JessKo)



Series: Dead Weight [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-22
Updated: 2019-01-23
Packaged: 2019-10-15 07:41:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17524613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JessKo/pseuds/JessKo2000
Summary: Act I of Dead Weight covers Jess' early days in the academy, training and first missions on team Guy, and the first nights of her undercover mission in the village hidden in the mist.





	1. Academy

**Author's Note:**

> If you have seen this before, congratulations on knowing me for the better part of a decade!  
> As I streamline my collected works over the years, I have decided to port this over from DeviantArt as a more cohesive(and actually edited) piece.

Written between the lines of the series, Jess is a ninja whose path takes many strange turns. Between an undercover mission among the Akatsuki and training with infamous swordsman Zabuza, Jess finds herself in many precarious positions. The only thing she can rely on is the steel strapped to her back and her allies within the Leaf Village, or at least she hopes so.

 

I woke up, ready for another day at the Academy, hoping it would be an easier one than the last. When I arrived, I sat in my usual seat in the front row, in front of that arrogant ‘genius’ Neji and busying myself with a text. Iruka sensei came in and said we would be having a new student in our class. I wasn’t really paying him much attention since we had new students all the time.

“Look at him,” Whispered Neji to the kid next to him.

 “Yeah, and check out those eyebrows. Yikes!” said the kid.

I then heard a bunch of murmurs throughout the class, assuming they were coming to similar conclusions. And I guess it was out of sheer luck that Iruka sensei told this new kid to sit next to me. It was then that I looked up.

The ‘new kid’ was about my height and had long black hair pulled into a braid with thick bangs on either side of his face. And Neji was right about one thing, this kid had some seriously thick eyebrows!

 “Hi, my name is Lee” he said with a shy smile. I guess he was nervous, because his whole face turned red.

 “Hey,” I said before returning to my work. I really didn’t feel like talking, but I guess he did, because he continued.

“So, how long have you been here?” He asked.

“A few months.” I replied. I really wish he would shut up, I thought to myself. But he kept on going.

 “So, what kind of, um, weapons do you like?” He asked.

 “Swords,” I answered. Stupidly, I asked him the same. “What do you like?”

Lee just looked at me for a second, but then said with a small smile. “Well, I’m not really that good with weapons…”

Then I inquired “How about jutsus?”

This time, he turned even redder and said “Er… I, Um… don’t have any skill with, uh, ninjutsu… Or genjutsu…”

 “Oh,” I said and went back to my work. If he is no good with weapons, ninjutsu, or genjutsu, then what is he doing here?

As the weeks went on, this question went through my mind again and again. Lee was failing most of his classes no matter how hard he tried and was mercilessly teased. Then, one day he snapped.

Our whole class was out for a jog. The boys were being led by Neji and the girls by myself. I looked over my shoulder to make sure everyone was keeping pace, and saw the boys standing in a circle. Out of curiosity, I picked up the pace so we would catch up to where the boys were, so I could take a look. What I saw horrified me. All the boys were crowding around Lee, and he was crying, trying to get out of the ring of torment. When he finally did, he ran into the forest.

I watched for a second, completely dumbfounded. I tried to be kind to Lee, but we weren’t close friends either. It was then that I realized he really had none and made what I reflect on today as the best decision of my life.

I watched Lee run into the forest, and decided to chase after him.

 “Look what you’ve done!” I yelled as I ran and was just chased by snickers and teases. I kept running until my sides were burning and found Lee collapsed in a small clearing. I walked up to him and heard his soft whimpers and just sat there, next to him, knowing there was now no turning back.

 _You were at the top of your class, had so much potential. And now look at you, chasing after the loser!_ Said a menacing voice in my head that couldn’t have been entirely mine.

I heard a noise behind me and quickly turned towards it. All I saw was a rustling bush and a flash of green and orange. _Great! Now I’m seeing things, too!_ Said a voice in my head, my voice. I looked back and saw Lee staring at me with these sad, big round eyes. I felt like I could see through those eyes and see into him, see all the pain, suffering, and determination. This kid has some serious guts trying to become a ninja, I thought.

“Why… Why did you follow me?” He asked.

I opened my mouth to reply but couldn’t find an answer. Why did I follow? It was not like we were close, and in that moment,  I hated myself, looking down at my peer (I couldn’t bring myself to even think of myself as his friend) collapsed, no, broken on the floor. I just sat there with my mouth hanging open.

Then, Lee reached up and shut it for me with a gentle touch.

“You don’t want to catch any bugs, do you?” He said. And then I cried. I had hardly done a single genuinely nice thing for him, yet in his darkest hour, this person still had the strength to help someone as undeserving as me.

Then I saw that flash again.

“Taking a nap already, kids?” Said the flash.

Then I saw what it was. The ‘it’ was the strangest man I had ever seen. He had a vest like most of the ninjas in the village, marking him as at least a chunin, but that’s where the similarities stopped. He wore his headband, which was red, as a belt, and wore a green… I don’t even know what to call it, unitard, I guess. He also had bright orange, umm… Legwarmers? A bowl cut I thought I saw on a toddler back in the village and eyebrows to rival Lee’s. He also looked like the strongest man I had ever seen, entirely toned and of a tall, proud stature.

“My name’s Guy, Might Guy,” He said, “And it looks like you two could use a little training.”


	2. Training & Missions

“Woohoo!” Exclaimed Lee, “Our first mission!”

“Yeah, but don’t get too cocky, all we have to do is help some old lady get her shopping done,” I said. But inside, I was just as excited as Lee. After weeks of training with Guy Sensei, I was ready for a change of scenery. On our way to the mission site, I began fiddling with the new broadsword strapped to my back, wishing I could use it on our mission, but knowing I wouldn’t need it.

As we passed my house, I asked Guy Sensei, “Can I drop this off quickly?” And he nodded and gave me a thumbs up while Lee giggled. I wondered what they were up to, but quickly forgot about it. As I came back out, Guy and Lee handed me a heavy package. In the package were weights and orange leggings like Guy had given Lee, but two sets.

“Thanks, but why two?” I asked.

Guy Sensei replied “Well, if you want to become a swordswoman, you need arm strength, don’t you?” And I knew what he meant. I then commenced to strap a pair around my ankles, and another to my wrists. At first, it was pure agony, but I tried to muster a smile for Guy and Lee’s sake. Oh well, I thought, I’m sure Guy Sensei only has my best wishes in mind.

“You look great!” said Lee. But I knew we were getting odd looks from the people nearby. We probably did look like a bunch of weirdoes! I then heard the all familiar snigger of none other than Neji.

“Ha! Look, it’s the king of fools and his two disciples!” He exclaimed.

But then I saw Guy Sensei whip in front of him and say “Well, If I’m the king of fools, then that makes you my lowly servant,” And Guy Sensei got Neji into a headlock fast as a flash.

“Mercy! Mercy!” Yelled Neji, and Guy Sensei released him with a smile and light laugh. Me and Lee cracked up and Neji gave us a horrifying look before he ran away.

When we arrived at the lady’s house, she led us to the first of many stores and we had to lug tons of her ‘necessities’ around town, not to mention having at least an extra hundred pounds concealed under the orange ‘youth-makers’ as Guy Sensei refers to them. It’s a wonder how that man managed to grow on me.

 

By the time we finished the delivery, I was ready to collapse and was glad I had dropped my sword off at home. On the way back home, Lee offered to carry me, but I said I was fine. Finally, though, after the second mile I broke down and hopped on, but Lee didn’t anticipate the newly added weight and we crashed down to the floor. This incident alone caused me to erupt in laughter, forgetting Lee was still under me. We climbed back up and saw the infamous ‘rival Kakashi’ coming towards us.

“Aren’t you two Guy’s new students?” He asked us.

“Yeah…” Replied Lee proudly.

“I have heard a lot about you,” Said Kakashi.

“Yeah, really?” I retorted cautiously.

And then Kakashi replied, “Yeah. You two are all he talks about now. It’s getting kind of annoying,” he said with a small laugh. I believed it.

“And we have heard tons of stories of your battles with Guy sensei,” added Lee.

“Really? Now that’s interesting… Anyways, Guy asked me if I would work on jutsu’s with you,” He said looking at me. “Meet me by the memorial at eight. Bye” He said turning around with a wave. As he walked away, he whipped out a book and started reading.

“Well, aren’t you just Ms. Popularity,” added Lee with a wink after Kakashi had left.

“I guess so. I’m surprised that Guy asked the ‘eternal rival Kakashi’ to train me,” I said.

“Well, you know jutsus aren’t Guy’s forte, so I’m not shocked. Also, I hear Kakashi once wielded the Executioner’s blade!” said Lee.

“Really!” I exclaimed, having read about the legendary swordsmen more times than I could count. I was so excited to train with Kakashi now that I decided that I would arrive early the next day. Big mistake!

“Yo,” said Kakashi as he approached. I had been waiting for three hours. How can he be so arrogant! If Guy Sensei had said to be there at eight, he would arrive at seven. But Kakashi was two hours late. Three if you counted the extra hour I was there.

“Let’s warm up-” he began to say, but I interrupted.

“Already did. For THREE HOURS!” I announced, remembering the hours I spent stretching and getting used to the new weights and already ready to turn in for the day.

“Oh. In that case, let’s start,” said Kakashi, or Kakashi Sensei since he was training me. “Let me see your sword,” he said and I held the orange and silver blade out, straining under all the weight. “You sure it’s not too heavy?” He asked, but I showed him the arm weights and he said, “That’s very much like Guy. If you feel it’s too much, then you can take them off,” but when he saw I didn’t make a move to do so, he continued.

After a little while, he said, “You fight like Guy. Which for someone like your friend Lee, that’s probably a good thing, but in your case, it’s holding you back.” I had never thought of this, but after a few hours, I learned that he was right. I was attached to Guy Sensei, but it looked like he was just holding me back in this regard.

After that first session, I remained on team Guy, but often trained with Kakashi. But that only lasted so long. Soon Kakashi had a team of his own and didn’t have time for me anymore. After he got his team though, I decided to see who was on it. It was Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke. The first two didn’t stick out to me, but that Sasuke Uchiha did. I remember when I was little, hearing how his brother Itachi had killed his whole clan and the neighboring one. Remembered how the only two he had let live were Sasuke and a girl who was Sasuke’s age from the other clan. I also recalled how the girl had run away, never to be seen again. I wasn’t friends with the girl but had seen her around town a few times before that. It was all very dark and unfortunate, I hoped Kakashi would be a positive for Sasuke at least seeing what a wonderful teacher he was.

Most times, Kakashi Sensei’s friend Tenzo (Or Yamato, I never know what to call him…) came to train with me, but I missed my training sessions with Kakashi Sensei. One day though, I was called to see the Hokage, the village leader and strongest ninja out of us all. Being called to see him was serious business.

I walked in and saw the third shuffling some papers. He said to come in.

“I have heard about your training with Kakashi, and now Tenzo,” He started, “And I am afraid that neither of them will be available to assist you any longer. Guy is constantly talking about how great a shinobi you are becoming. I fear that here in the leaf we do not have the resources for you to continue your training. Also, to make matters worse, most of the ninjas who are most qualified to train you are either missing nins or S-Rank criminals. So I have been in correspondence with a certain nation in debt to the leaf and plotted out a training journey, or mission, for you. Come in,” And then, right next to where I was standing, a plant seemed to be growing out of the floor, and then a head followed, and then a black cloak. And to think I thought Guy looked a little strange!

“This is Zetsu,” said the Hokage, “He will lead you on your journey, since he is pretty well known in the criminal world.” Then, Zetsu turned to look at me and half of him started talking. (Half! This dude seemed to be split in two, the white half normal enough looking, minus the plant, and the black half having only an eye, no mouth.)

“I thought you said I would be traveling with a high-level shinobi,” It said with little emotion. I shuddered as I processed the Hokage’s comment. Seeing no missing nins were contacted… Would I be sent to apprentice under S-Rank criminals?!

“She will be by the time you return,” said the third.

“Humph. This will be embarrassing,” it said, in a deeper voice. That must be the black half, I thought. “I hope nothing bad happens due to this… disappointment.”

It took all of my effort to not cry out, demand the Hokage send someone else. But he was right, with all the criminal activity lately, the village was incredibly short staffed.

“You will be leaving in two days,” said the Hokage, “Zetsu, you may leave,” and then Zetsu melted into the floor. “Now, Jess, you will be training with some of the most notorious criminals out there, so please remember where your loyalties lie. After some training, you will join the organization Akatsuki under a codename and fake your death. Zetsu will report to me, so we both will be informed. And after your death, you are to come here immediately. Tell us everything you know. Once again, this mission is of utmost importance, so please remember you are a leaf shinobi, no matter what happens. Dismissed.”

So that’s what I was, a bargaining chip. Something to offer out on loan to whatever bad guys offered in exchange of freeing up any potential teachers. None of this was good news, but the Hokage’s word was law.

I left the Hokage’s office and ran straight to where Lee and Guy were training and told them everything.


	3. Farewell and Carry On

   “NOOOOOOOO!!!!!” Exclaimed Lee when he heard the news. “You can’t leave me! Who does that Hokage think he is! Let me at ‘em! And that Zetsu freak, too!!!” Lee continued, but then Guy Sensei came up behind him

“No, Lee. There is nothing you can do,” But then, I saw a small tear come out of Guy Sensei’s eye. Thank you for being strong, I thought. But Lee was doing the opposite.

   He clamped onto me and said “There! Now you must take me with youuuu,” and started bawling incoherently.

   I then looked at him and said “Lee, I will still be here two days, you know,” and he looked up at me.

   “Really?” he said.

   “Yeah,” I replied. And then he let me go and pointed towards town.

   “Then we have lots to do!” He yelled and bolted towards the village center.

   “You better go chase him,” said Guy Sensei with a smile, and as I ran off, I heard him say “Oh youth, how it never seizes to amaze me!”

   Those last two days were a blur. Lee and I did all our favorite things, like going to the BBQ and exploring the forest for the billionth time and acted like real kids for once. But then, on the third day, it was time for me to go. Early in the morning, Lee and Guy Sensei led me to the village gate, and surprisingly Kakashi was waiting for us there.

   “Wow,” I said, “I’m surprised you aren’t late for once.”

   “Well, this was one thing I didn’t want to be late for,” He replied. Then Zetsu materialized out of the floor.

   “You are traveling with him?!?” Said Guy Sensei, out of complete shock, taking a step back.

   “Yes, didn’t I tell you?” I replied.

   Interrupting, Zetsu said “It’s time to go,” And I told him to wait a second.

   “Goodbye you guys,” I said.

   “Yeah. Remember what we all taught you… And don’t die.” Said Kakashi. “I want to see how much you’ve grown when you get back.” Real sentimental, huh?

   And then it was Guy Sensei’s turn to say goodbye. Instead of staying strong like earlier, he completely lost it and grabbed onto my leg.

   “Don’t leave us!!!” He said, tears streaming down his face. I looked at Lee to help, but instead he just grabbed my leg.

   “STAYYYY!” He sobbed. I squatted down and hugged them both.

   “You two may just be the strangest people I have ever met,” I said between sobs “But I love you guys more than anyone I have ever met.” I looked at the two buffoons trying to hold me, knowing I had to leave. I then looked at Lee, thinking back to the first time I met him.

   “You’ve changed so much,” I whispered, thinking of the little good for nothing loser he used to be, but seeing the taijutsu master he had become. Sure, he may not live up to most people’s definition of attractive, but neither did I, especially after my long encounter with Guy Sensei. Then Zetsu walked over and nudged me with his foot.

   “It’s time to go,” He said again. Then Kakashi came over and whispered something to Guy and he let go and stood up. Lee followed suit after a pat to the shoulder. We then just looked at each other and I started to walk away. At the last second, though, as the gates were closing, I ran back to Lee, hugged him and gave him a small kiss to the cheek.

   “See you later,” I said and ran to catch up with Zetsu just as the gates were closing. I turned back at the village one last time. See you soon, old friend, I thought, hoping the village could hear me.

 

   We have been walking for hours, I thought to myself, staring at the moving plant in front of me. Zetsu was likely the most boring person I had ever met. Even worse than Iruka Sensei when he was lecturing! All he did was walk. No talking, no breaks, no nothing!

    Finally, night came, and he stopped. He cleared a small space, lay down, and closed his little plant, apparently trying to sleep. But I was not going to have it!

    “What, no food?” I asked rather impatiently.

    Zetsu opened his plant a bit and the black half said, “I only feed once a week,” and closed back up again.

    “Well, us people need to eat at least twice a day, and salad is sounding quite nice right now,” I snapped back.

    He opened up a little again, and a lighter voice replied, “The purple berries and leaves on that bush over there are edible,” and the deeper voice added “There’s your salad. Now let us sleep because pretty soon I will be craving little girl.” And the plant snapped shut.

    I walked over to the bush and, mocking Zetsu, I said “There’s your salad! As if! It’s just a bunch of stupid berries!” and popped a few in my mouth. They were like hard little pears. After I picked the bush clean, I lay down and heard my stomach growl. This is going to be a long trip, I thought.

   In the middle of the night, I woke up abruptly when I heard something rustle loudly. I looked in the direction of the noise and could have sworn I saw someone run through the trees. For a moment I thought it might be Lee hunting me down, but remembered it wasn’t a flash of green, so I just dismissed it as a tree cat or other creature and fell back asleep.

    That morning I woke up around seven or so and saw Zetsu was already up. He looked over and saw that I was awake and stood.

    “Time to go,” he said.

    “Where?” I asked, and he told me we would be heading towards the Hidden Mist village. Why we would be heading towards that corrupt village confused me, but I remembered what the Hokage said, and that was where the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist were from, after all. 

     As the sun began to set on another day of walking, I could see the border of the Fire Country on the horizon. Almost there, I thought to myself.

    On the third day, we arrived at the village. Zetsu seemed to know where he was going, so I followed him. We entered a bar and sat in the last booth. A young boy came up to our table and looked us over. He then motioned for someone to come. Out of the shadows came a man with a white mask with a huge sword strapped to his back which I instantly recognized as the Executioner’s Blade. So this was the great Zabuza, I thought to myself.

    “You must be Zetsu,” he said, “I heard you were coming.”

    Then, Zabuza and Zetsu began to discuss my training, but sent me and the boy away. All I had heard was Zabuza saying “I already have one kid to watch out for, so if that’s what you…” I had heard all the legends of Zabuza’s deeds growing up, so even though he wasn’t exactly the ‘good guy’ type, I prayed Zetsu would convince him to train me. Seems I came to terms with this awful mission fairly quickly.

    “So, you are from the Hidden Leaf?” said the boy, eyeing my headband.

   “Yeah,” I replied, wishing I had taken off the headband. How stupid was I! The Hidden Leaf was an enemy of the Mist! But I can fake being a rogue ninja, right?

    “My name is Haku,” The boy continued. “And as I’m sure you know, that’s Zabuza.”

    “Yep,” I said, and then Zetsu came up behind me.

    “Zabuza has agreed to train you, under one condition. He wants to fight you, and if you live, he will keep his promise.” Said Zetsu.

    “Good luck,” said Haku with a small smile. What a strange boy, I thought miserably.


	4. Time in the Mist

   Come on! Come on! OPEN!!! I thought to myself. I had been barely avoiding Zabuza’s quick attacks. He had already reduced my sword to smithereens and the gates were my last option, one forbidden to me unless lives were on the line. My life surely counted for that! I stepped back, and my heel nudged the cracked hilt of my sword. This is not good, I thought, trying to force open the first gate a second time. The gates came so easy to Lee, I remembered as Zabuza and a water clone attacked from either side. Here goes nothing, I thought as I proclaimed “First gate, Gate of Opening, OPEN!!” and lunged at the Zabuza at my right, hoping it was the real thing.

    I grabbed him and launched both of us into the sky, just as Guy sensei had taught me, but we only got about half of the altitude I had hoped for. I guess instead of forcing the gate open, I just nudged it, and my core was already in searing pain! I slammed the Zabuza into the ground only to get hit with a splash and hit the ground with the full force of the blow.

    “Zetsu, old friend, I thought you said she was good, but I’ve had spicy curry put up a harder fight with my stomach!” Sniggered Zabuza. “The gate was a surprise though, although it was a pretty meager attempt at it,” he continued. “It’s a shame she will never get to master it!” He yelled as he lunged with his enormous blade aimed at my heart.

    In that instant, I reached behind me and grabbed a foot-long chunk of my sword’s thick blade and used it as a shield, diverting the blow. I moved a bit too late, though, and he got the artery on my left arm, or at least he would of if it hadn’t been for the weights. Guy will be happy to hear that they really paid off, I thought while I quickly glanced at the huge gash in the weights. I then noticed that the chakra lock on it had been released as well.

    When I first had received the weights. they were a real pain in the you know what, so I went home to make fake ones, so Guy wouldn’t be offended. I just tied some foam blocks together and covered it up with the leggings and went to training. Guy noticed instantly and wasn’t offended. He just told me that if I didn’t want to be stronger, I could just skip training all together and sent me home early that day. You would think I would have learned my lesson, but I didn’t. I just hollowed out the original weights and showed up the next day, and thought I had Guy fooled, but as Lee and I left, Guy called me over and gave me a “You really thought I would fall for that?!?” punch. He then let me go and said he would have a surprise for me the next day.

    That next day I showed up and he handed me two new sets of weights and asked if he could put them on me. That’s when he put a bit of chakra into them in and I haven’t taken them off since. Well, I can’t take them off, hence the term ‘chakra lock’, a use of his energy to permanently bind the weights to my limbs. But apparently a slice from Zabuza’s sword is enough to suck the chakra out of them, because the weight was now lying on the floor.

    My arm was free! I stood back up and charged Zabuza with new found strength and speed. I caught him off guard and landed a blow to his chin. I hit it with so much power that Zabuza flew into the air. I had no idea I could hit that hard! I suddenly had newfound respect for Guy! Zabuza got back up and was rubbing his chin. I had knocked the wrappings from his mouth and saw a row of razor sharp teeth that could have rivaled Zetsu’s. How did that happen? I thought.

    He looked at me and asked, “Where did that come from?” and noticed the weight lying on the floor. “Hm. So that’s your secret? No wonder your strikes were so sluggish,” and he demonstrated how to hold a sword, so the weight was more evenly distributed and tossed me his. I grabbed it midair in my left hand and we sparred for another hour, but I had the advantage using his sword, which was like wielding a blade from the heavens. It was so perfectly balanced that I could maneuver it like I never had before.

    I then realized that he had silently agreed to train me.

   Zetsu and I had settled for the night at our little makeshift camp and I could tell Zetsu was asleep by the way his leaf thingies (What the heck are they even supposed to be?) were closed tightly. I started to stomp out the cooking fire when I felt something approaching us. I whipped around and reached for a nonexistent sword at my back. Zabuza wasn’t too keen on the idea of giving me his, so I was swordless for the time being…

     A dark figure materialized out of the brush and out popped an all-so-familiar green clad figure with a low splash of orange and strip of red.

     “Guy Senseiiiiiiiii!!!” I yelled as I ran up and hugged him. We just stood there for a few seconds, and then I pulled back. He looked me over and said

     “Look how much you have grow- Hang on!” And I could see him eyeing the terrible tan line on my left arm. Crap! He noticed immediately that one of his weights had come off.

     “Cheater, Cheater! Curry eater!” He teased, shaking his head slowly.

     “Sorry about that…” I said.

     “Never mind that! I didn’t think I would run into you here, of all places!” He replied. “Anyways, just take mine!” He said while pulling off his. I saw they were noticeable larger than the ones I currently had. Double crap! “You probably needed new ones anyway!”

     “Thank you?” I said as I accepted the somewhat damp gifts and strained to hold them with my fingertips. He then told me to pull all the leg warmers down so he could move the ones from my legs to my arms and his to my legs.

 I guess the small ones from my arms were now a luxury from the past now that I had mediums on my arms and huge ones on my legs. Needless to say it was like I was hit by a train. Guy Sensei didn’t put any chakra into them this time, though.

     “Your training is in your hands now,” He said with a flashy smile, “I expect you to take full advantage of it, my youthful pupil!” I looked at his legs, gleaming with sweat, and then mine.

     “Well, it looks like I’ll have you right along with me for all of it,” I said as I covered up all the weights, thinking about how slimy the new ones felt on my legs and how I would ever get them dry, since I had no plans of taking them off for fear I would never put them back on.

     “Yup!” Guy Sensei replied with a trademark ‘nice Guy’ pose, that flashy smile and thumbs up. I then looked over to Zetsu, and noticed he made a slight jerk when I did. He thinks he is so sneaky, I thought, but I’ll ignore it, just this once.

     “So, how is Lee?” I asked.

     “Well, when you left, the other two-person team, which included Neji and Tenten, was added to mine. And let me say Lee and Neji were like oil and water, if you know what I mean.” Said Guy. I knew exactly what he meant. “But they are starting to overcome their differences, and Tenten is a big help. They even participated in the last Chunin exams!” Guy continued.

     “How did they do?” I asked.

     “Pretty good. Neji got to the third and final exam but lost to Kakashi’s Uzumaki kid.” Said Guy, but then he added, under his breath, “Stupid Kakashi. You win this time, but next time… Grrrr…” Oh Guy, I thought. “But Tenten and Lee only got to the preliminaries of the third exam. Tenten is fine, but Lee…” And Guy got choked up.

     “What happened?!?” I asked nervously.

     “Lee was randomly matched up to some kind of… monster. Lee did his very best, put his all into the fight, and almost had him, but the kid, Gaara was his name, used sand. And he crushed one of Lee’s arms and a leg with it. He is in the hospital ‘sniff’ now.” I just about burst into tears and Guy was on the verge of hysterically crying. But for the first time ever, he suppressed his emotions and held himself together.

     “Anyways, I have to go save Kakashi’s kids skins, so I gotta run!” He said, “But first, take this too,” Guy Sensei said as he handed me a small hand mirror from out of his vest. “You will never know when you will need to check behind your back!” And then he bolted off with a quick hug. I heard him yell “I’m coming Jirayyyaaaa!!!” as he ran. I quietly sniggered to myself and settled on the floor, ready to sleep.

     Oh Lee… What have you gotten yourself into, I thought as I drifted off to sleep.

   “Mmmm… Five more minutes…” I said as I yawned, grabbing onto the soft mass poking me in the side and using it as a pillow, or at least trying to as the rest of this ‘mass’ fell on top of me. I still fell back asleep but was abruptly awoken by a very irritated Zetsu.

   “You’re freaking squeezing my arm you…” (I would rather not share the rest of what dark chocolate said as he flung me off him. Apparently the normally calm, cool, and collected Zetsu I knew was seriously pissed off…) I then looked at him and wondered why the heck I had left with the crazed, cannibalistic, split personality of a plant-person thingy that Zetsu was, but then remembered my mission. What did I do to deserve this?

   “Time to go.” Said Zetsu, white chocolate as I had nicknamed the halves this time, “Eat this as we leave,” he said while handing me a small packet of green preserved fruit. A true breakfast of champions, I thought sarcastically as my stomach growled. But the berries proved to be filling, because by the time we reached the bar where I was supposed to meet back up with Zabuza again, I was just about full. And as usual, Zetsu was silent the whole trip.

   Zabuza and Haku were waiting in the bar when we walked in, so I walked over to them, and Zetsu must have left because I didn’t see him when I turned around. Zabuza then led me to a small field on the bank of a river.

   “Before we start today, I need to know what kind of elemental user you are, so hold this.” Said Zabuza as he handed me a thin piece of paper. I held it between my index and middle fingers, and…

 

Nothing happened. Zabuza said to give it back to him, and when he held it, the paper was reduced to a pulpy mass by way of oversaturation.

“How did you do that!?!” I asked excitedly, but he just looked frustrated and was mumbling to himself “For water, it gets wet. Lightning, it crumples, air, it slices. For earth it crumbles, and for fire it burns…” What is he rambling on about? I thought.

Then, he asked me, “You do use jutsu, right?” and I replied “Yeah” and created a quick shadow clone. He then handed me another piece of paper, and another, and another until I was fumbling about, trying to hold five pieces between my fingers. Then they all became a puff of smoke.

“Hmmm… It looks like you have some kind of blood line, uhm, expansion of sorts.” Offered Zabuza, and he then had me perform all sorts of jutsu. He concluded that I was “Equally mediocre in all elements” and that I would “Need to work on it” because I seemed to fuse the elements together, but the results were mostly disastrous because apparently my fire crackled with lightning in it, my earth style jutsu’s were wet and muddy, and so on.

For a few weeks, every day at training we worked on separating the elements and then successfully fusing them together to create even more options for jutsu’s, like fusing earth, fire, and air to create a kind of ‘magma steam’ element which was useful. Or fusing earth water and fire to create charcoal element, but that element was a failure and proved to be more of a nuisance than an actually useful tactic. And during all of this testing, Haku was a big help because of his water and air bloodline limit, and helped me master ice element. Zabuza also helped me with my swordsmanship, but we spent most of our time on the elements until I got them down pat. I knew every possible combination by heart except one by week four. Weaponizing it would be another matter however… But back to the elusive combination.

Life element is what Zabuza called it. He believed that if I could combine all the elements into one neat package, we could create life itself. But Haku was convinced it would just cause a massive explosion, and Zetsu chuckled at the notion of a life element until I held a small ball of sparking fire in my palm, saying “I always wondered if you really are made of leaves…”  Over the weeks, I really go to know Zabuza and Haku and grew quite fond of the pair.

Then, at the end of our fifth week of training, Zabuza said that he had to go and that I would need to continue my training without him.

“Keep working on that ‘life element’ kid.” Were his last words to me before he and Haku left, each giving me a short wave as they drifted over the horizon.

My leg weights were still wet on the inside, reminding me of my other team and I wondered what they were up to…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that about wraps up Act I. The next part will cover the Akatsuki Days!  
> I'm getting super nostalgic editing all this together, wow.


End file.
